Russia's fight is ours!

British Second World War poster issued by the Department of Information in 1941. It is a reproduction of four separate Soviet War posters, each depicting Russia's strong determination to destroy Hitlerite Germany. It is one of several examples of the British Government reproducing Soviet posters as propaganda to encourage popular support for the Soviet Union, which had entered the Second World War on the Allied side in 1941.

The Soviet images run from left to right on a dark blue background translated in the following sequence: 'Kill the Fascist Reptile!'; 'The enemy will be mercilessly defended and annihilated.'; 'Death to the Fascist Reptile!'; and 'Napoleon failed and so will that blackguard Hitler!' Each of the four images bear some resemblance to one another in that the Red Army are depicted defending Russia from the right of image, or the 'East', while the hated enemy advances from left of image, or the 'West'.

The first image depicts a Red Army rifle butt squashing a monstrous reptile creature that is in the shape of a swastika. The Soviet hammer and sickle also feature in bright red ink above the Russian language caption.

The second image depicts a Red Army soldier lancing a caricature of Adolf Hitler through the head with a bayonet. The Hitler figure is emerging from behind a torn and tattered copy of a Peace treaty signed by Russia and Germany.

The third image depicts a Red Army soldier, bayonet drawn, impaling a black swastika-shaped serpent through the neck. The Soviet hammer and sickle features in the top right corner printed in red ink.

The fourth and final image depicts a black ink caricature of Adolf Hitler being butted by a Red Army rifle in the hand of an unseen soldier in the foreground. The background silhouette cast by the Hitler figure appears as Napoleon Bonaparte while the Red Army rifle appears as a pitchfork with the year 1812 inscribed on its shaft. This shadowy play between the foreground figures and background silhouettes draws parralels between Hitler's iminent attack on Russia and Bonaparte's failed invasion of Russia one hundred and thrity years earlier.

This particular poster has English translations under each of the of the Russian images as well as text encouraging Bristish support of Russia in the form of production assistance.